Modern Art

I have been reading this book, The Innocent Eye. It demonstrates how the Modern Art movement was influenced by the art of children. As Caspar David Friedrich writes, 'The only true source of art is our heart, the language of a true childlike spirit.' The book follows the rise of child's art in the eyes of artists in Europe. Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Gabrielle Munter, Vassily Kandinsky, and Jean Dubuffet all collected and, in some cases, copied the art of children in their own paintings.

Picasso's friend Brasai, on watching Picasso look at a child's drawing; "He looks at them as though he had never before seen a drawing. His eyes never leave them."

Jean Dubuffet writes: I have always tried to represent any object, transcribing it in a most summary manner, hardly descriptive at all, very far removed from the actual objective measurement of things, making many people speak of children's drawings.

Joan Miro said of his art; "The older I get and the more I master the medium, the more I return to my earliest experiences. I think that at the end of my life I will recover all the force of my childhood."

I love watching kids at the moment you hand them paper and art materials. They jump right in. They work without a net. Children and their art have a lot to teach us. They put what is important in the art that they make. Just like we strive to do for our books. children play with line and shape like magicians! So the next time you are looking for inspiration, find a child, get some paper, and draw together.

In the future I will post some images from the Dormer family draw-a-thons.